Hide and Seek
by ChrissyMarie419
Summary: April Carver had her heart broken a long time ago and she is just fine with being alone. So, when her best friend, Beth has her annual, "hide and seek " birthday party and she meets, Leo Hendrie, she is determined to stay away. Will she or will she let her heart come out of hiding for once?


Chapter One

Waking her up from her sound sleep, April Carver's eyes opened to see her cell phone buzzing against the night stand. Groaning, she did a faceplate into her soft pillow and reached her arm out to grab the damn thing.

It was six o' clock in the morning and more importantly it was a Saturday. Who in their right mind would be calling someone at this time in the morning? On a weekend?.

With one last whine escaping from her lips, April flipped over onto her back and looked at the screen to see who it was. _Beth. _

_I guess I won't kill her for calling me since it's her birthday!_ She thought.

Rubbing her eyes, she finally picked up and said in her most cheerful voice, "Happy birthday, Beth. "

"Oh April, everything is ruined. " Beth said sounding close to tears.

"What?" she asked confused. Sitting up, April swung her legs over the bed. "What's ruined? "

On the other end, Beth took a deep breath. "Everything, " she said. "I've been up since four baking cupcakes and they've all came out of the oven burnt. Then, I thought I would go pick up cupcakes at the store, went to get in my car, and it wouldn't start. And I have a million things to do before my party tonight. " she said her words rushed, panicked.

April could tell the way her breath was shaky that she was about ready break down. "Okay, first of all, you have got to calm down, " April said, getting to her feet. "It's going to be okay. I'll get ready and be there as soon as I can. "

Sighing, Beth began to calm down. "Thank God for you April Carver, thank God you're my best friend. "

Smiling, April began to gather things to go get a shower. "I'll see you in a bit. "

* * *

><p>Plopping down on the couch, April was finally realizing how tired she was. She ran to the store, put up decorations, and made sure everything else was in place for the party. Now, all she wanted to do was take a nap. Throwing her head back against the couch, she closed her eyes until someone cleared their throat. Jumping, her eyes shot open. There stood Beth in a midnight blue dress. Her hair was pulled back and up in a high ponytail. Spinning to show if off, the dress flared up. "What do you think? " she asked, smoothing out the skirt.<p>

"It's really beautiful, Beth. " April stated.

Smiling, Beth sat down. "Thanks. When I saw it, I knew it was just screaming take me home, " she said. "You know you could head home and change. The party doesn't start for another hour. "

Looking down, April pulled at the soft material of her hoodie and smoothed out her dark blue jeans. "I think I'm just going to wear this. "she said.

Raising an eyebrow, Beth glared at her best friend. "What?" April asked. "We are going to be playing hide and seek. I'm not wearing anything fancy. "

It's true. She wasn't going to go home to get dressed in her best clothes when she was going to be outside playing a game that requires you to hide in the smallest places, where things can be ripped and torn while you keep moving around to find the most comfortable spot until someone actually finds you.

Beth frowned. "Oh, come on, April. "

She sometimes hated the fact that Beth was so obsessed with "always dressing your best" (To her best friend, that meant not even wearing jeans or a t-shirt to the grocery store). And although April agreed with her when it came to important events, playing hide and seek in the dark on a cold October night called for an old pair of jeans and a ratty old sweatshirt.

"Okay, I'll go home and change if you drop the game from this party. "

Dropping her hands to the sides, Beth sighed. "I can't do that. That's all my parties were about since I was a kid. It's a tradition. "

The good old tradition started at Beth's fifth birthday party. April and some other kids were waiting to be picked up after the party was over, so her parents sent them outside while they started cleaning up. Out in the big backyard, they stood, trying to figure out what to do until one of the other little girls said, "About we play hide and seek?" Everybody agreed, so they spilt into teams and they had so much fun that the time flew by and before they knew it, their parents were there.

The next year, Beth remembered how much fun it was, so she invited all her friends over to play a big game of hide and seek instead of just a traditional birthday party and it's been like that since.

"I know…" April whined ,throwing herself against the couch.

Her childish ways made Beth laugh. "Why do you hate the game so badly? You use to love it."

"I know. It's just as we got older, alcohol came with the game and I got sick of stepping over puke, or sitting in puke when I went to hide someplace. " She made a face at the memories.

Her disgusted looking face made the birthday girl crack up. "I know, "Beth agreed. "But if you go home and change, I promise I won't play it next year. "

April sighed heavily. "I already told you, I'm not going home to change in my nicest outfit to play hide and seek. "

"It doesn't have to be your nicest outfit, just something that doesn't have a million stains on it." she said eyeing all of them.

Running her fingers through her hair, April looked down at the clothes she had since college. "Why do you care if I have stuff on clothes?"

"Because you know when people have stains on their clothes, it drives me crazy, " she said. When April didn't respond, she started to beg. "Look, do it for me for a birthday present. "

Rolling her eyes, April pushed herself up off the couch. "Fine. "

And Beth got this huge-annoying smile on her face. "Thank you." she said.

She wasn't thrilled about going all the way home to change her outfit, but she also knew Beth wouldn't stop bugging her until she did.

* * *

><p>Running late to the party, April rushed through the car-filled driveway. Opening the front door, she stepped inside the house that was filled with people. There were friends of hers she recognized, but after a quick wave to say hello, she was off. She had felt terrible for being late for the birthday party (Even though, it was Beth's fault for making her go home and change), but nonetheless, she was an hour late.<p>

Walking into the kitchen, she saw the birthday girl who was surrounded by a group of people. Smiling as Beth's eyes met her; she squeezed her way through the crowd.

With the apologize right there on her tongue and having tunnel vision, April didn't even see the man that was standing beside Beth.

She crashed into him, hard ,and sent his wine glass to the ground, shattering and it sent him stumbling forward.

Grabbing onto his arm, April managed to catch him. "I'm so sorry, " she said ,holding her hand to her forehead. "I was just trying to get to get to Bet-…." She was cut off by the man spinning around to face her, he was gorgeous, so damn gorgeous that it took a moment to get air back into her lungs.

"It's okay." He smiled. And she felt as though she was going to melt into a puddle.

They smiled and stared at each other a moment longer before his I'm –uncomfortable soft laugh broke the silence between them.

Like he didn't know what else to do, he stuck his hand out to her. "Leo Hendrie. "

Smiling, April took his hand in hers and said, "April Carver. "


End file.
